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Oil prices decline after big rally

Xinhua, August 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Oil prices ended lower on Monday after U.S. crude posted its best weekly gains in more than five months.

Both U.S. oil and Brent crude added about 15 percent in the last seven sessions on speculation that Saudi Arabia and other members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will agree next month to a production freeze deal with non-OPEC members led by Russia.

The oil prices were under pressure on Monday amid more Iraqi crude shipments and a rising U.S. oil rig count.

Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer, will increase crude exports by 5 percent in the next few days after an agreement to resume shipments from three oil fields in Kirkuk, according to media reports on Sunday.

Moreover, oilfield services company Baker Hughes said Friday that the number of rigs operating in U.S. fields rose by 10 to 406 this week, notching an eighth straight weekly gain.

The West Texas Intermediate for September delivery lost 1.47 U.S. dollars to settle at 47.05 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for October delivery erased 1.72 U.S. dollars to close at 49.16 U.S. dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange. Enditem